Kirk Franklin: Being A ‘Booty Call Christian’ Won’t Lead You To Your Purpose

Kirk Franklin doesn’t dwell on how others perceive him. He is here to walk in his purpose and be of service, which means creating music that uplifts and guides his listeners. He is a conduit and remains so by staying connected to God.

The minister of music is promoting his latest album Long Live Love that features the debut single OK. Franklin’s love for God developed a young age and because of that, it is deeply rooted in gospel grounds.

‘If you only make Jesus, this spare tire, this Sunday buffet and you only make him a Christmas holiday, your roots never go to go deep,” Franklin says confidently in a candid chat. “And when they don’t go deep, you go to college, you forget. You get older, you forget. You go through these seasons of life where it just wears off because the roots never went deep.”

Even when he faced trials and tribulations, he’d seek his savior to correct his mistakes and work on his flaws. He attributes his sincere love to the fact he didn’t have a father growing up and how the Father became his “dad.”

“I felt the need to have that Him and I couldn’t find it in my community, I couldn’t find it at church. So it was kind of there in my spiritual walk and my faith walk. And so that has kept me where my appetite is just as hungry now as it was when I was 15.”

The power of the word and sounds of gospel are the ultimate healing tools. Though his music has revolutionized the gospel genre, he humbly reframes from taking the credit for it. “I was raised around people that do what I do every day. So what I did was not unique for me.”

Franklin, however, credits his ability as a songwriter as the gift from God that helped him shift the culture. “In gospel music, there are many people who do what I do. I really think that it was to get the songwriting, they kind of made it do this.”

The 12-time Grammy award winning artist is simply “speaking what was put inside of him.” That voice inside him speaks to his purpose in life. Franklin believes anyone can find their purpose, but being a part-time Christian won’t guide you there.

“We give God a big hug and kiss for the gift and they close the door and say, I got it from here. In finding Christ, I find the purpose of my life, I am able to unlock all of the doors of my spirit and the doors of my God given reason for breathing. And it’s already there. But if I’m a booty call Christian, if I’m a spare tire Christian, the jump-off Jesus dude, I’m never going to be able to tap into bikes that are already made for me, I’m going to be spend the rest of my life, putting together pieces.”

Putting the pieces together can ultimately lead to healing by the grace of God and Franklin believes in giving people that space and time to heal. When asked about his friend and collaborator Kanye West’s “Sunday Service,” Franklin thinks adding merchandise to the experience was a “mistep.” But thinks we should let people heal.

“I think the merchandise thing, I’m split on if that was him or his team, because you can have people around you that don’t always share the same heartbeat on how deep something is for you. What I see in Kanye and in my conversation with Kanye, this is part of his healing. This is part of the medicine. This is part of his strategy. Let the man heal. The T-Shirts and different things are what they are. But the fact that this music has the power to heal people’s soul. That’s exactly what it is. Yeah. So this is let the man heal.”